


Ceaseless Watcher

by AbstracttReality



Category: DreamSMP, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Gen, idk if this counts as angst but, local teenager submits to conflict
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:00:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29516397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbstracttReality/pseuds/AbstracttReality
Summary: Ranboo visits Dream in prison. Willingly, this time. Things go about as well as you would expect.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 55





	Ceaseless Watcher

**Author's Note:**

  * For [404blr discord](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=404blr+discord).



Ranboo is at the prison again. Sam is staring at him like he’s insane. He knows he’s not supposed to be there. But he wants to be. Not because someone is forcing him, but because some twisted part of him misses Dream.

“Hey, Sam,” Ranboo says timidly. He hates the sound of his name on his lips. “Can I see Dream?”

“Seriously?” Sam asks. He isn’t condescending, just curious. “After last time?”

“Yes,” ranboo says slowly. “I’ll...I know you don’t trust me. I’ll...give you my memory book.” Ranboo pulls a small book from his pocket. Hesitancy makes his hands shake. It’s worn and old, and the leather is starting to fade from use. The second it leaves his hand, he feels cold and empty. Like a part of him has been stolen.

Sam stares down at the book with heavy regard and sighs before tucking it into his pocket. 

“I’ll keep it safe, Ranboo. If you want to do this, then you can. I won’t stop you.”

“I’d like to,” Ranboo wrings his hands together and looks down at Sam. “I really want to see him.” Ranboo bites his tongue when he sees the look of caution that crosses Sam’s face.

“You better not be planning anything,” Sam grumbles. “I’ll hunt you down.”

“I know, that’s not what I meant.” Ranboo assures him. He walks up to the lectern, peering down at the book he has signed so many times. Sam takes him through the process of signing waivers once more, and Ranboo leaves everything behind in a chest. Just like normal, he tells himself. This is routine. Nothing will be different today. 

Once he’s walking across the platform to Dream’s cell, he isn’t so sure of that anymore. The lava still emits an obnoxiously hot fume, and it burns Ranboo’s leathery skin. He’s used to the comforts of the tundra. This isn’t home. He doesn’t like it. 

Sam shouts across the room, signaling that he’s going to drop the gate and let the lava resume its flow. A lump grows in Ranboo’s stomach as he sets his eyes on Dream. The creator. The destroyer. The shell of a once humane man.

Dream is sitting, folded in half against a wall, staring impassively at his clock. His eyes blink in time with each tick. He doesn’t spare Ranboo a second glance as the netherite barrier falls. Something curls in his gut. Not fear, not necessarily concern, either. He takes a moment to place the emotion but comes up short. Insanity, he realizes. Dream is going insane. 

“Hello, Dream,” Ranboo says timidly. He misses the weight of his memory book in his pocket. Dream doesn’t even glance at him. Ranboo examines him carefully. The ruler of the server looks so much different than he had the last time they had spoken. His hair is a bit longer, his eyes are more deranged. His clothing is torn in some places and scorched in others. 

Scars and burn marks litter his skin. Ranboo thinks he looks like he had walked through hell without anything but the clothes on his back. 

“Dream?” Ranboo asks. The man hums absentmindedly in response. His stomach rises with the sound. “I came to visit you.”

That lights a fire behind Dream’s eyes. He tears his gaze from the clock. It lands on Ranboo, and it’s heavy. Ranboo isn’t sure he wants to be there anymore. 

“Ranboo,” Dream says slowly. “Ran..Ranboo.” His right-hand twitches at his side. His left hand sits comfortably across his stomach, right where Tommy had-

“Ranboo,” Dream says again, acquainting himself with the name. He licks his lips gently and coughs. How long has it been since he’s had a visitor? 

“How are you, Dream?” Ranboo shifts his weight nervously. Dream squints at him.

“You came to visit me.” He realizes. Some kind of twisted glee sparks in his voice. The fire in his eyes grows wilder. The realization that Sam can’t help him curdles his blood.

“It’s been so long since I’ve had a visitor,” Dream hums gently. His words string together like a song, and it utterly terrifies Ranboo. “But why you? You never visit anymore, not after the last time.”

The last time. 

“Yeah,” Ranboo shrugs. “I wanted a fresh start.”

“Fresh…” Dream sighs. “Fresh start. What are you doing here?”

“I...I honestly don’t know. I felt like I should visit-”

“Stop saying that word.” Dream hisses. His eyes dart across the room. The green in his eyes stands out against the black walls. It makes Ranboo all too aware of his gaze. He settles on the clock once again. 

A minute passes, and Dream says nothing. He starts blinking in time with the clock again. Ranboo feels like he’s intruding, but he doesn’t move. He simply observes. Another minute passes. Nothing changes. 

Ranboo eventually turns to leave. He’s not sure how long he’s been watching Dream, but as soon as he tears his gaze from the Watcher, Dream stirs. He stands in one fluid motion but sways on his feet ever so slightly. 

“Ranboo,” Dream says the name like it’s home. A chill licks up Ranboo’s spine. Dream shivers. “Tell me about home.”

“Home?” Ranboo asks nervously. What does that mean?

“Tell me about them. And...tell me about George.”

Ranboo shrugs, trying to remain calm. Every voice in his head is screaming for him to leave. Every fiber of his muscles ache. They yearn to move, to escape. Yet, he remains. 

“I haven’t seen them in a while, Dream,” Ranboo admits. He knows Dream still has the outline of Sapnap’s face memorized in his head. The exact way that Bad laughs. The gentle skin of George’s hand. 

“What do they do without me?” Dream is so much shorter than Ranboo, but it still feels like he towers over the hybrid. Ranboo gives a cautious smile. He can feel his canines catching on his lips. Dream flashes a smile of his own, this one much less friendly. 

“Sapnap and George are living with Karl,” Ranboo recalls. “I’m not sure what they’re doing. Bad is still trying to take over the world with his egg propaganda.” Dream snorts at that. For a second, Ranboo thinks he’s talking to a normal person.

“What do you think of the egg, Ranboo?” Dream’s head sways slightly. His eyes shift in and out of focus. It takes Ranboo a moment too long to realize that the voice that leaves his mouth is not his own. It’s honeyed and warm, and it sounds like...him. It sounds like Ranboo.

“What?” He asks slowly. 

“The egg,” Dream repeats. 

“I...I don’t know. It started talking? It’s scary, I guess. Why are you asking me this?”

“What does it say to you?” Dream steps closer to him. His eyes dart across Ranboo’s face hurriedly. 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Ranboo shakes his head. 

“Do you talk back?” Dream’s voice has picked up an urgent tone. He raises his dirtied hands to Ranboo, letting them float inches above his skin. Ranboo notices the subtle twitch in his fingers and swallows gently. 

“Sam,” Ranboo calls. “I want to leave.”

“Ranboo, listen to me carefully,” Dream lets his hands fall on Ranoo’s skin. He clutches the hybrid’s forearms firmly. Ranboo can feel his breath becoming hurried. 

“They do not speak here, Ranboo. Their language is violence.” Dream looks him in the eyes like he’s supposed to know what that means. “You must fight if you want them to hear you.”

“Let go of me,” Ranboo breathes. Sam calls for him distantly. “Please.” His voice breaks on the last syllable. Dream releases him and instantly returns to his wall. He returns to his clock as if nothing ever happened. Ranboo thinks he might throw up. He turns away from the prisoner and stares into the lava, praying it will retract faster. 

“It’s about time you choose a side, Ranboo.” Dream tells him. Ranboo suppresses a shiver. “Make sure it’s the right one.” Against his will, Ranboo glances back at Dream and freezes. 

The rough lines of his face melt circles of white and green and black. An eye forms in the center of his head, swallowing all of his existing features. Eyes begin to open all along the length of his flesh. Small squelching sounds accompany each one. It sounds like flesh being torn from-Ranboo’s hands start to tremble. He screams for Sam. Dream’s never-wavering eyes stare into his soul. He screams louder. The tremor in his hands worsens. He doesn’t even notice when his skin starts to glow purple, and the cell vanishes before his eyes. 

“That trick will be useful,” Dream’s voice speaks into the back of his mind. “Too bad you won’t remember it.”

The next thing he remembers is the gentle glow of the crying obsidian in his panic room. Ranboo raises a hand to his face to wipe away a stray tear but notices his hands are stained with blood. He’s clutching his memory book tightly, knuckles void of color. One of the pages is dog-eared. Ranboo flips to it hesitantly. Why is he crying? Why can’t he remember? A single line of Enderian is written on the page before him. It’s smudged with red droplets and covered in hurried drawings of eyes. Ranboo’s gut twists. 

“Maybe choosing a side wouldn’t be so bad after all. Trust the Watcher.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you 404blr discord for giving me inspo for this (: im love you


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